Research has shown that a large number of the top health problems in society are either caused in whole or in part by an unhealthy lifestyle. More and more, our society requires people to lead fast-paced, achievement-oriented lifestyles that often result in poor eating habits, high stress levels, lack of exercise, poor sleep habits and the inability to find the time to center the mind and relax. Additionally, obesity and body weight have become epidemic problems facing a large segment of the population, notably including children and adolescents. Recognizing this fact, people are becoming increasingly interested in establishing a healthier lifestyle.
Traditional medicine, embodied in the form of an HMO or similar organization, does not have the time, the training, or the reimbursement mechanism to address the needs of those individuals interested in a healthier lifestyle. There have been several attempts to meet the needs of these individuals, including a perfusion of fitness programs and exercise equipment, dietary plans, self-help books, alternative therapies, and most recently, a plethora of health information web sites on the Internet. Each of these attempts is targeted to empower the individual to take charge and get healthy. Each of these attempts, however, addresses only part of the needs of individuals seeking a healthier lifestyle and ignores many of the real barriers that most individuals face when trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. These barriers include the fact that the individual is often left to himself or herself to find motivation, to implement a plan for achieving a healthier lifestyle, to monitor progress, and to brainstorm solutions when problems arise; the fact that existing programs are directed to only certain aspects of a healthier lifestyle, and rarely come as a complete package; and the fact that recommendations are often not targeted to the unique characteristics of the individual or his life circumstances.
With respect to weight loss, specifically, many medical and other commercial methodologies have been developed to assist individuals in losing excess body weight and maintaining an appropriate weight level through various diet, exercise and behavioral modification techniques. Weight Watchers is an example of a weight loss behavior modification system in which an individual manages weight loss with a points system utilizing commercially available foods. All food items are assigned a certain number of points based on serving size and content of fat, fiber and calories. Foods that are high in fat are assigned a higher number of points. Foods that are high in fiber receive a lower number of points. Healthier foods are typically assigned a lower number of points, so the user is encouraged to eat these food items.
A user is assigned a daily points range which represents the total amount of food the user should consume within each day. Instead of directing the user away from a list of forbidden foods, a user is encouraged to enjoy all foods in moderation, as long as they fit within a user's points budget. The program is based on calorie reduction, portion control and modification of current eating habits. Exercise activities are also assigned points which are subtracted from the points accumulated by a user's daily caloric intake.
Weight Watchers attempts to make a user create a balance of exercise and healthy eating in their life. However, because only caloric value of food is specifically tracked, the program tends to fail in teaching the user about the nutritional changes they need to make to maintain weight loss. Calorie content is not the only measurement that a user should take into control when determining what food items to consume. Items that contain the same caloric content may not be nutritiously similar. So, instead of developing healthy eating habits, a user might become dependent on counting points. It is important to note that the Weight Watchers program deals essentially with caloric intake only and not caloric expenditure.
Similarly, Jenny Craig is also a weight loss program. Typically, an individual is assigned a personal consultant who monitors weight loss progress. In addition, the individual will receive pre-selected menus which are based on the Food Guide Pyramid for balanced nutrition. The menus contain Jenny Craig branded food items which are shipped to the individual's home or any other location chosen by the individual. The Jenny Craig program teaches portion control because the food items to be consumed are pre-portioned and supplied by Jenny Craig. However, such a close dietary supervision can be a problem once the diet ends because the diet plan does not teach new eating habits or the value of exercise. Instead it focuses mainly on short term weight loss goals.
The integration of computer and diet tracking systems has created several new and more automated approaches to weight loss. Available methodologies can be tailored to meet the individual's specific physiological characteristics and weight loss goals.
BalanceLog, developed by HealtheTech, Inc. and the subject of U.S. Published Application No. 20020133378 is a software program that provides a system for daily tracking and monitoring of caloric intake and expenditure. The user customizes the program based on metabolism in addition to weight and nutrition goals. The user is able to create both exercise and nutrition plans in addition to tracking progress. However, the BalanceLog system has several limitations.
First, a user must know their resting metabolic rate, which is the number of calories burned at rest. The user can measure their resting metabolic rate. However, a more accurate rate can be measured by appointment at a metabolism measurement location. A typical individual, especially an individual who is beginning a weight and nutrition management plan may view this requirement as an inconvenience. The system can provide an estimated resting metabolic rate based on a broad population average if a more accurate measurement cannot be made. However, the resting metabolic rate can vary widely between individuals having similar physiological characteristics. Thus, an estimation may not be accurate and would affect future projections of an individual's progress.
Second, the system is limited by the interactivity and compliance of the user. Every aspect of the BalanceLog system is manual. Every item a user eats and every exercise a user does must be logged in the system. If a user fails to do this, the reported progress will not be accurate. This manual data entry required by BalanceLog assumes that the user will be in close proximity to a data entry device, such as a personal digital assistant or a personal computer, to enter daily activities and consumed meals. However, a user may not consistently or reliably be near their data entry device shortly thereafter engaging in an exercise or eating activity. They may be performing the exercise activity at a fitness center or otherwise away from such a device. Similarly, a user may not be eating a certain meal at home, so they may not be able to log the information immediately after consuming the meal. Therefore, a user must maintain a record of all food consumed and activities performed so that these items can be entered into the BalanceLog system at a later time.
Also, the BalanceLog system does not provide for the possibility of estimation. A user must select the food consumed and the corresponding portion size of the food item. If a time lapse has occurred between the meal and the time of entry and the user does not remember the meal, the data may not be entered accurately and the system would suffer from a lack of accuracy. Similarly, if a user does not remember the details of an exercise activity, the data may not be correct.
Finally, the BalanceLog system calculates energy expenditure based only upon the information entered by the user. A user may only log an exercise activity such as running on a treadmill for thirty minutes for a particular day. This logging process does not take into account the actual energy expenditure of the individual, but instead relies on averages or look-up tables based upon general population data, which may not be particularly accurate for any specific individual.
The program also ignores the daily activities of the user such as walking up stairs or running to catch the bus. These daily activities need to be taken into account for a user to accurately determine their total amount of energy expenditure.
Similarly FitDay, a software product developed by Cyser Software, is another system that allows a user to track both nutrition and exercise activity to plan weight loss and monitor progress.
The FitDay software aids a user in controlling diet through the input of food items consumed. This software also tracks the exercise activity and caloric expenditure through the manual data entry by the user. The FitDay software also enables the user to track and graph body measurements for additional motivation to engage in exercise activity. Also, FitDay also focuses on another aspect of weight loss. The system prompts a user for information regarding daily emotions for analysis of the triggers that may affect a user's weight loss progress.
FitDay suffers from the same limitations of Balance Log. FitDay is dependent upon user input for its calculations and weight loss progress analysis. As a result, the information may suffer from a lack of accuracy or compliance because the user might not enter a meal or an activity. Also, the analysis of energy expenditure is dependent on the input of the user and does not take the daily activities of the user into consideration.
Overall, if an individual consumes fewer calories than the number of calories burned, they user should experience a net weight loss. While the methods described above offer a plurality of ways to count consumed calories, they do not offer an efficient way to determine the caloric expenditure. Additionally, they are highly dependent upon compliance with rigorous data entry requirements. Therefore, what is lacking in the art is a management system that can accurately and automatically monitor daily activity and energy expenditure of the user to reduce the need for strict compliance with and the repetitive nature of manual data entry of information.